The present embodiments relate to a medical treatment or examination device.
Very different treatment or examination devices are used in the medical setting. Many of these include device components that may move relative to one another. An example for this is an x-ray device including a patient bearing table, a tabletop of which may be adjusted vertically in terms of height using an appropriate drive device (e.g., the tabletop may move relative to the foot). By way of example, a different device component is a C-arm that supports the radiation source and the radiation receiver, arranged on a robot arm or the like. Using the robot arm, the C-arm may be moved in space. In this case, the C-arm may be moved relative to the adjoining robot-arm section. These are only a few examples for very different treatment or examination devices that find use in the medical field and have such movable device components.
A load is often applied to a movable device component. In the case of the patient bearing table described in an exemplary manner, this is the case when a patient is held on the tabletop. Depending on the patient mass, the load on the relevant components changes (e.g., in the region where the tabletop is fastened to the drive device that is to move the load). This may result in an influence on the moving processes such as displacement speed or reversal error in the movement axes. The load profile is also changed by changes in the load (e.g., when the patient is repositioned or repositions himself; the bend in the patient couch or table changes as a result of this and the like). Thus, the varying patient load is a variable and therefore influences the properties of such a treatment or examination device. Occasionally, there is also a load on such a device component when the device component is inadvertently moved against an obstacle (e.g., in the case of a movable C-arm). In this respect, use is made of complicated collision monitoring devices, mainly based on cameras, that attempt to avoid possible collisions in advance. However, collisions may not be ruled out completely. If a device component (e.g., the C-arm) impacts on an obstacle, a load is likewise applied thereon. If the load is sufficiently large, this may result in damage in the extreme case.
The patent document DE 38 71 806 T2 discloses a contactless measurement arrangement for tension in a rod-shaped body. In at least one transverse zone, the body is provided with a surface coating made of an amorphous magnetic material. Torsion of the body may be established with the aid of recording coils situated outside therefrom.
The patent document DE 603 09 678 T2 discloses a magnetic field sensor for detecting torque in a shaft.